[Lesson] "Nino Precioso" from Call of Duty: Black Ops II

In a previous post, The ZOEN interviewed video game composer Jack Wall whose work appears in the  blockbuster release, Call of Duty: Black Ops II. The interview discussed how music is crucial to conveying the personality of increasingly complex video game characters.

Consider the  beautiful Nicaraguan folk melody, "Nino Precioso" (Precious Child) which became the theme song for the character of Raul Menendez in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. In the following video, The ZOEN's teacher/guitarist Isabella Abbonizio demonstrates how to play the poignant guitar solo that opens "Nino Precioso" in Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

From Jack Wall, composer for Call of Duty: Black Ops II:

When I first got the story-- I went through the storyline and figured out who the really important characters were. The main antagonist in the story--Raul Menendez, is from Nicaragua. He had this experience with his sister, he was taking care of her and there was this one scene where he was in a at her bedside and I thought "wow, wouldn't it be cool to find a Nicaraguan lullaby."  

I found this song called "Nino Precioso" which means "precious child." It's a real simple piece, but it's beautiful and worked great. There are also several other pieces in the game, action pieces or ambient pieces where we use that theme as well just to tie things together for his character--it became the "Raul Menendez Theme."         

For those interested in listening to the soundtrack version of Nino Precioso, give it a listen here. 

For more on Jack Wall and Call of Duty: Black Ops II check out: 

The ZOEN Talks Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Part 1): Meet Composer Jack Wall

The ZOEN Talks Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Part 2) - Jack Wall on Learning Music Online

Sign up for lessons from Isabella: Check out her ZOEN profile.